Estate Of Late Pistons Owner Hit With Massive Tax Bill In Estate Battle

July 9, 2015

Bill Davidson was one of the wealthiest men in Michigan and owned assets ranging from the NBA’s Detroit Pistons to auto parts manufacturers. But when he died, the IRS went to court stating that his estate owed billions due to deficiencies regarding estate and gift tax reporting. However, an agreement has been reached that has the estate paying out close to $400 million to the IRS to settle the matter. The crux of the dispute concerns the valuation of privately held corporate stock and the use of self-cancelling installment notes which the IRS claimed were severely undervalued. This represents the largest single take of the year for the tax and will likely be used as proof of the rightness of their stance by both sides of the battle over the continuation of state and federal estate taxes.

See Ashlea Ebeling, IRS Grabs $388 Million From Billionaire Davidson Estate, Forbes, July 8, 2015.

Special thanks to Jim Hillhouse for bringing this article to my attention.

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Current Affairs, Current Events and Estate Tax